LOUISVILLE, Colo. (KDVR) — An Louisville man and his wife lost everything in the Marshall Fire, including hundreds of pounds of meat that he harvested. Colorado Parks and Wildlife heard about his story and donated some wild game to him to help the family recover.

Fleetwood Mathews is an outdoorsman. He was born in Connecticut but lives, works and hunts in Colorado. 

“It’s just you against this vast environment that doesn’t care about you at all and it’s really, it tests your character,” Mathews said.

Mathews also had his character tested by the Marshall Fire. His home caught fire, and was completely destroyed.

“We lost everything, we did not have a second to grab a bag and fill it with anything, we lost everything that was in the house,” he said. “In the chest freezer was the elk that I had just harvested with my bow in September.”

That means 250 lbs. of prime Colorado wild game was destroyed.

“The story that goes to what’s in the freezer is way bigger than, ‘oh poor me we lost some meat in the fire,'” Mathews told FOX31 Denver.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife heard Mathews’ story and responded in kind, by giving him over 250 pounds of elk meat that was confiscated from an illegal hunt.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to help out Fleetwood and his family. He is a great guy we’re probably gonna hang out after this too, he is a lot of fun,” Sam Peterson, CPW district wildlife manager, said.

Food for the plate, and food for the soul.